The Day of the Doctor

The 'Day of the Doctor' is going to be remembered for two cameos...Peter Capaldi's bloodshot eyes and Tom Baker as "The Curator" possibly cementing himself as The Doctor, the definitive article you might say (More on that in a minute). The rest of the episode...Ehhh In 'The Day of the Doctor' begins with The War Doctor (John Hurt) having made the decision to end the long talked about Time War by sending the message 'No More' and stealing The Moment, the most dangerous weapon in the Time Lord armory and taking it to an unnamed location/planet to do the deed. However, we're told that The Moment is such a powerful weapon that it became sentient. The Moment makes contact with The War Doctor in the form of the Badwolf (Billie Piper who thankfully did not appear as Rose Tyler)acting as The War Doctor's conscious showing the psychological effects setting off the weapon will have on his future selves (David Tennant and Matt Smith). (Think It's A Wonderful Life). Meanwhile, in the 21st century, Doctor #11 (Smith) is brought by UNIT to investigate an odd experience at the National Museum where something or someone appears to have escaped from within a 3-D painting. At the same time, Doctor #10 (Tennant) is in 16th century England hobnobbing with Queen Elizabeth I while tracking down Zygons. The two Doctors are brought together with The War Doctor and we see how the 16th century Zygon invasion is tied in to the going-on's in the 21st century. This also introduces an extra-dimensional status cube that plays bigger part later on. The War Doctor returns to where he started to press the big red button to end the Time War with 10 and 11 in tow so he doesn't have to do it alone...but then they come up with another plan involving the status cubes and involving all the Doctors (from Hartnell through Peter Capaldi's eyeballs). The episode is a mess throwing the entire Doctor Who mythos off-kilter. We've been told since the return of the show in 2005 that the Doctor did what he did because the Time Lords became as merciless as the Daleks and he had to stop both before the universe was destroyed. Now, he didn't press the button because the helpless bloodthirsty merciless Time Lords, on the verge of defeat, have to be saved under the hope of a better day in the future. I also question the necessity of adding The War Doctor to the line of Doctors possibly requiring a re-con of Doctor's lives. I wonder if the script was written with the idea Eccleston's 9th Doctor would play the John Hurt role, prior to Eccleston turning it down, which would make more sense. Or, alternatively, casting Paul McGann as the last days of the 8th doctor. Likewise, I kept wondering why David Tennant was there other than to have a multi-Doctor episode. He comes across more as a companion bumbling and stumbling along with Matt Smith through the episode. Of course we did get an answer to the whole Queen Elizabeth I references, but again, it seemed to just be there with no other reason for it. The episode does give a clever way to portray the other Doctors taking in to account William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee have all passed, but there is no explanation, even a throw away line, as to how they knew to be at Gallifrey at the moment. The most talked about part of the episode is Tom Baker's cameo. It does raise the question if he is a future Doctor or somehow the Fourth Doctor having lived on past his regeneration. Try not to think about it too much because it really doesn't matter. What does is that at 80, and with the twinkle still in his eye, Baker blows the other performances out of the water. .

We know, for example, why elderly Elizabeth I was so hostile to the Doctor during his and Martha Jones' team-up with Shakespeare. It's because he ran out on his wife! We know that the 4th Doctor becomes the owner of an art gallery. We also know that John Hurt's performance was undeniably both poignant and bravura. That he was really the 9th Doctor, instead of a potential 12th (as I initially thought); or even an aged 8th, like I second-thought. We even know that this ret-cons Chris Eccleston into the 10th Doctor; Dave Tennant, into the 11th; and Matt Smith, into the 12th. What we don't know, however, is whether or not the 13th Doctor will still become the Valyard (traitor and would-be prosecutor of the 6th Doctor). Only Time, of course, will tell. In any event... Happy Golden Anniversary, Doctor!!! And, a perfect ten, to boot (as if you didn't know).